New York Knicks point guard Jason Kidd (5) had a good performance against Miami on Sunday. / Debby Wong-USA TODAY Sports

by Jeff Zillgitt, USA TODAY Sports

by Jeff Zillgitt, USA TODAY Sports

NEW YORK â?? Miami Heat All-Star LeBron James took a nasty-looking fall on alley-oop attempt in the third quarter Sunday against the New York Knicks.

He landed awkwardly and stayed on the floor momentarily holding and stretching his left knee, which was in some kind of discomfort.

He got up and continued playing. But it was clear the knee still bothered him. So he shook it off, literally and figuratively.

He made a 19-foot jumper 33 seconds later, and during a pause with Heat center Chris Bosh shooting free throws, James lifted his left leg off the floor, gave it a shake, and, like the Bionic Man, restored power to his knee and then destroyed the New York Knicks.

"I don't even know why I asked," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of possibly taking James out of the game at that point. "He said, 'I'm fine coach. Don't even think of taking me out.' "

James had another outstanding performance â?? 29 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists â?? as the Heat defeated the Knicks for the first time this season, 99-93. It was Miami's 14th consecutive victory, tying a franchise record. The Heat can break the mark with a win against at Minnesota on Monday.

James scored 19 points in the second half, including 12 in the fourth quarter as the Heat overcame a 59-44 halftime deficit and clobbered the Knicks 54-34 in the second half.

James played all 24 minutes after halftime.

"I don't want to just assume that he can play 40-plus minutes, but he had to do it on both ends," Spoelstra said. "Couldn't get him out in the fourth quarter. If I would have tried, he probably would have strangled me. â?¦

"Either scoring or facilitating for us, he was strong and was the strongest after 40 minutes of basketball."

James will have the knee re-examined, but said, "I will be alright. It might be a little worse the next day. Hopefully â?¦ I will be in the lineup" Monday against the Timberwolves.

James had a series of brilliant sequences. Take your pick.

â?¢ The alley-oop, in which he outran and outhustled Carmelo Antony, who had a head start, back down the court.

â?¢ After James threw a bad pass resulting in a turnover, he sprinted back on defense. Knicks guard J.R. Smith, trying to avoid one of James' classic chase-down blocks, missed a layup attempt.

â?¢ Back-to-back three-pointers tying the game at 79 early in the fourth quarter.

â?¢ The assist to Dwyane Wade, the blocked shot on Tyson Chandler and then the tip-in on missed shot in 80 seconds, giving Miami a 91-87 lead.

â?¢ Finally, the steal and then a dunk with 23.6 seconds left, securing the victory.

"Feels like we are playing good ball right now," James said. "We are winning at all facets of the game, and we want to try to continue it. â?¦ We feel like this is one our best wins of the season. We cut the lead in the third quarter, then they went on another run. So for us to withstand that and win the game was good."

Miami's victory negated Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony's game-high 32 points and wasted a strong shooting effort from guard Jason Kidd, who broke out of his three-point slump. From Feb. 1 through March 1, Kidd shot 14.7% on threes, but made 4-for-5 and had 14 points.

"We can't beat anyone when we scored 34 points in a half," Anthony said. "It's not going to happen. â?¦ They capitalize off guys' mistakes, and they did that coming down the stretch.

Neither the Knicks nor the Heat wanted to place too much importance on a regular-season game.

"We don't any more importance on one game than the other. â?¦ We're trying to improve and get ready for the second season," Spoelstra said prior to the game.

But there were implications for both teams in the microcosm of an 82-game season. The Heat entered the game on 13-game winning streak, one shy of tying the franchise record. They also were 0-2 against the Knicks this season.

The Knicks entered with the second-best record in the Eastern Conference, but recently lost four consecutive games, slipping out of first- or second-place for the first time this season. Since an 18-5 start, the Knicks have played just over .500 basketball.

Spoelstra said the Heat looked forward to the game after the Knicks "kicked our butts twice."

It was part sloppy, part spectacular and all competitive â?? a potential preview of an Eastern Conference playoffs matchup.

"That's a very good team over there, a team we're going to compete against so many more times the rest of this year," Heat guard Dwyane Wade said, anticipating a playoff series against the Knicks.

The Heat overcame a dreadful second quarter in which the Knicks outscored them 37-22 and took a 59-45 lead into halftime.

Coming off Friday's 98-91 victory against Memphis â?? which Spoelstra called one of Miami's best wins this season â?? the Heat were not at the top of their game Sunday, especially defensively in the first half.

But they recovered in the second half â?? thanks to James, Wade, center Chris Bosh and Shane Battier. Bosh scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half, and Battier scored 12 points on three-pointers.

If there's a player who can finish with 20 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, it's Wade, who is having an outstanding season â?? just overshadowed by James' amazing season.

Wade said his left knee is the best it's felt in two seasons. He had surgery in the offseason, and it's paying off. In another season, Wade would have been a strong candidate for conference player of the month. He averaged 23.9 points, 6.2 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 2.5 steals and 1.3 blocks in February. He wasn't even the best player on his team. James averaged 29.7 points, 7.8 assists, 7.5 rebounds and 1.8 steals and shot 64.1% from the field.

Wade is content with his role.

"As Chris Bosh says, LeBron is the best player in the world, but we're the best supporting he can have," Wade said. "We all get Oscars."

Since James arrived, and especially since the Heat lost to the Dallas Mavericks in the 2011 Finals, Wade is content with a different role.

"I don't have an ego," he said. "If I had an ego, it wouldn't work. The only thing I'm about is winning ballgames. â?¦ I've figured out my role in a sense. I think I'm doing a pretty good job of it."

While the Heat are surging, the Knicks are middling. They are 7-6 since Feb. 1 and are now in third place in the East, behind the Heat and Indiana Pacers. Miami has a seven-game lead over the Pacers and a 7Â½-game lead over the Knicks. Miami is starting to put away the rest of the conference. Everyone one else playing for seeds 2-8.

In the two earlier meetings against Miami, the Knicks were fantastic on three-pointers (37-for-80), as they were for the first two months of the season. But since Jan. 1, the Knicks' three-point shooting has fallen off, and that was the case Sunday. The Knicks made just 8-for-29 on threes.